12/04/2019
FishFotos from Kevin Pinkerton:
Kevin Pinkerton, Memories of Big Fish
I’d missed the first casting call and thought I was out of luck, but I made it in at the last minute. I’d gone to school at Cloverdale back in junior high, and it was fun to see the lunchroom converted to a massive costume area. I had long hair so I was dressed for the 1970s scenes in brown corduroy and a leather jacket. The last extra who had worn it many years ago had left a cigarette in the pocket that crumbled to powder when I touched it!
On my first day on the shoot we got dressed and lined up before dawn on a street in Wetumpka, and the great costume designer Colleen Atwood walked past us and picked who she wanted in the scene. I was the 9th in the row and I will never forget the thrill when she said “number Nine,” and I got to go forward.
We rode over to the bank set and I was a little sad to see that not everyone was going to get inside. But as I watched a PA with a camera had stepped out and was filming us — I realized Tim Burton or one of the ADs must be inside looking at us and deciding who to pick. I made my way to the outside of our group, square in view of the camera. Sure enough, a few moments later 2nd AD Tommy Harper came out and picked me. Once inside, Ist AD Katterli Frauenfelder was very kind and explained what would be needed of me.
My main scene was when Steve Buscemi robs the bank, and I was in many shots with Ewan McGregor. I’m generally cowering on the floor with Ewan and Gary, the bank guard. I don’t know how many times we shot it, dozens maybe, but I had to dive on the floor over and over, and I thought my ancient pants would get destroyed (along with my knees). But I got it easier than the woman who had plaster dumped on her head 20 times.
If you watch the film, I enter the bank just before the pistols go off. There’s a gag where a pistol is supposed to slide over to Ewan, and the rubber prop just wouldn’t slide, but bounce. That’s the shot you see in the DVD extras where Tim Burton is laughing next to me at how comical the whole thing was. There was also a whole remote-control camera thing (like the bowling ball tracking shots in Big Lebowski) where a camera followed the gun for a few shots, but as far as I know it never really worked right and wasn’t used in the final film.
My memory of Ewan McGregor was that he was very cool, relaxed, and could flip a switch and be in character instantly. The most he would do is jog in place just before “action” if he was supposed to be excited in the shot. Steve Buscemi on the other hand would go off in a corner and psych himself into the scene, and seemed really intense. I spent a lot of time with Gary, Steve and Ewan in the corner of that bank. We saw Steve at 1048 Blues bar after that and he seemed much more at ease.
I spent so much time on the bank floor, I have a surreal memory of hearing the click-clack of heels inches from my hands and looking up to see Helena Bonham-Carter walking past to meet Tim Burton when we broke for lunch. (I tell you one thing, I have never eaten better craft service than on a Tim Burton film! We had a juice station at one point that was amazing.)
Every time the scene was reshot, I was waiting outside the door to enter the bank. Carlos the 2nd 2nd AD would give me the cue. Once he got an unexpected text and thought he missed the cue, and sent me in too soon. I realized I had never seen this part of the scene before, and couldn’t go to my mark because Ewan was in it! So I ad-libbed and walked over to the table to silently ask about taking out a loan. We got through the scene and Kat came over to tweak my “loan application” fakery and I told her I was never supposed to be there! I was proud that it was convincing enough that I blended in — which is really an extra’s only real job.
I have so many flashes of memories from the bank shoot like that. We moved outside at one point on the first day and I was astonished to realized the “daylight” beaming in the windows was fake, and it was eight o’clock at night! We huddled in a small tent and ate burgers and chicken sandwiches in the rain. The next morning I saw the writer John August sitting on a little wall across the street. I got to watch the red Charger do burnouts with Ewan in the passenger seat and afterwards a PA would sprinkle gray powder on the street to cover up the tire marks. I noticed the blinds in the bank door were messed up before one shot and alerted a smart-ass gaffer who said, “Buddy, you just saved the picture.”
On the later 70s scenes I was in the circus crowd with the dancing dogs. All the extras sat mostly with their “eras” in a big tent, waiting for our moments. I got to meet the gentle giant Matthew McGrory, and the amazing Danny Devito. Tim Burton had become enchanted by the Alabama woods and our schedule changed to allow this, so we had some down time. My favorite memory of this was once, I was bored and standing outside the tent. I saw a man walking towards me, covered in mud, and bust out laughing at how ridiculous it looked. The man saw me and laughed as well — and I realized it was Ewan. Nobody else was around and he was nearly unrecognizable under the mud, so I got to have that one moment of humor all to myself.
All in all it was a really magical experience. I’ve been on other movies and TV shows and have long since moved to Los Angeles to work in the industry, but Big Fish will alway hold a special place in my heart.
